Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 09:57:59 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 03/05/96 AIDS Daily Summary March 5, 1996 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "FDA Agrees to Review Test for AIDS Viral Levels" "HIV-Positive Troops Lose Special Treatment" "EU Sets Prophylactics Standard" "Washington & World: Supreme Court" "Blood Transfusions Speed Conversion to Full-Blown AIDS in HIV-Infected Individuals" "Many HIV-Positive STD Clinic Patients Practice Unsafe Sex" "Viragen Inc. to Conduct HIV/AIDS Study with Natural Human Interferon; Company Also Forms Alliance with Leading Healthcare Provider" "T-Cell Mediated Rejection of Gene-Modified HIV-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in HIV-Infected Patients" "Tweaking T Cells with Altered Antigens" "Agouron Starts Phase III Protease Inhibitor Studies" ************************************************************ "FDA Agrees to Review Test for AIDS Viral Levels" Wall Street Journal (03/05/96) P. B6 Chiron Corp. announced that the Food and Drug Administration will evaluate a blood test that measures viral levels in HIV-infected patients. Studies show that determining a patient's viral level can help predict the impact the virus will have on their future health. With this knowledge, doctors can treat HIV-positive individuals better and researchers can better judge experimental therapies. "HIV-Positive Troops Lose Special Treatment" Washington Times (03/05/96) P. A3; Scarbough, Rowan In the past, people serving in the military who had cancer, diabetes, or other conditions that made them "permanent non-deployables" could be forced to retire, while people with HIV could not. A new law to force the discharge of all HIV-positive military members has been widely criticized, but is supported by people who say it will end the double standard that has been favoring people with HIV. They say all personnel who cannot be deployed should be discharged with medical and financial benefits. Currently, HIV-infected service members are taken from active duty and assigned to desk jobs. When they develop AIDS, they are retired from service with benefits. However, service members who are classified as non-deployable for other medical reasons, may be discharged depending on their individual service's standards and how many non-deployables can be retained. Rep. Robert Dornan (R-Calif.) sponsored the new policy, arguing that keeping service members who cannot be deployed weakens the military's readiness. "EU Sets Prophylactics Standard" Journal of Commerce (03/05/96) P. 8A Condoms sold in the 15 European Union countries as well as Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland will have to comply with new standards for strength, length, width, and quality. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) announced the specifications for "Eurocondoms," saying it wanted to reconcile differing national standards. The CEN pointed out that condoms significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission and are also a good and inexpensive contraceptive. The new standards, which must be implemented by June 1998, can be met by manufacturers by following CEN guidelines. "Washington & World: Supreme Court" Investor's Business Daily (03/05/96) P. A1 The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of two former Massachusetts high school students and their parents, who had objected to an "indecent" program on sex education and AIDS. "Blood Transfusions Speed Conversion to Full-Blown AIDS in HIV-Infected Individuals" Reuters (03/04/96) Blood transfusions seem to speed the conversion from HIV-infection to full-blown AIDS, Dr. Ronald Sacher of Georgetown University has found. The amount of blood a patient receives, the disorder being treated, the particular blood component being given, and the age and gender of the patients all affect the amount of risk involved. Sacher said that increased morbidity is associated with transfusions in general, but that illness and death are particular concerns of HIV patients. Sixty percent of HIV patients die within two years of a transfusion, and Sacher says that the transfusions themselves pose problems, independent of HIV infection. "Many HIV-Positive STD Clinic Patients Practice Unsafe Sex" Reuters (03/04/96) A significant number of homosexual or bisexual men continue to practice unsafe sex even though they know they are infected with HIV, according to a survey of men attending genitourinary clinics in England and Wales. Forty-seven percent of the homosexual or bisexual patients studied had a recently-detected sexually transmitted disease (STD) and knew that they had HIV. Having both HIV and a recent STD showed that the men were continuing unsafe sexual behaviors, M.A. Catchpole, the study's leader, concluded. He said the results raise questions about the effectiveness of counseling after HIV tests. "Viragen Inc. to Conduct HIV/AIDS Study with Natural Human Interferon; Company Also Forms Alliance with Leading Healthcare Provider" Business Wire (03/04/96) Viragen Inc. announced Monday that it will conduct a study of its natural human alpha interferon product Alpha Leukoferon for the treatment of hemophiliacs with HIV and AIDS. The company has also allied with Quantum Health Resources Inc., which is providing financial support for the study. Of the 90 patients to participate in the study, 60 will receive Alpha Leukoferon for a minimum of six months in combination with a comprehensive HIV treatment program, while the remaining 30 make up the control group. The study will be led by Dr. R.H. Keller, medical director of Biodoron and chief executive officer of Immune Balance Technologies Inc. "T-Cell Mediated Rejection of Gene-Modified HIV-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in HIV-Infected Patients" Nature Medicine (02/96) Vol.2, No.2, P. 216; Riddell, Stanley R.; Elliott, Mark; Lewinsohn, Deborah A.; et al. Introducing genes into cells has been advanced as a method to correct genetic deficiencies and bolster immunity. An immune response to new protein products made by the introduced genes can eliminate the gene-modified cells, however. In Nature Medicine, Riddell et al. report the results of a trial in which patients with HIV were given CD8 HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that were genetically modified to express a gene for positive and negative selection. The transferred CTLs persisted for four weeks, but then quickly disappeared in five of the six patients. This decline was attributed to the development of lymphocyte responses specific to the protein made by the modified cells. The researchers suggest that gene-modified cells will have to be made less susceptible to the host immune system if gene therapy is to be successful. An unexpected insight from the study, the authors say, is that HIV-infected patients have the ability to induce a strong primary T-cell immune response to foreign antigens expressed by transferred CTLs. This finding could provide clues to improving immune responses to opportunistic pathogens and developing a vaccine for HIV. "Tweaking T Cells with Altered Antigens" Lancet (02/17/96) Vol.347, No.8999, P. 460; McCarthy, Michael Until the 1980s, researchers thought that a T cell either became fully activated as a result of a strong bond with a major-histocompatibility complex or that it did nothing. Scientists now know that some T-cells--ones exposed to a 13-aminoacid ligand with one aminoacid substitution--can become partly activated, producing interleukin-4, providing B-cell help functions, but not proliferating. Paul Allen, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. found that the altered peptide ligands--the recognition sites on immunogenic peptides--can cause varying degrees of T-cell activation in CD4 helper T cells and CD8 cytotoxic T cells. Hepatitis B and C and HIV can take advantage of altered peptides. Rodney Phillips at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford has found four strains of HIV with a mutated antigenic peptide derived from the virus. In culture, genetically-engineered strains of the virus could stop attacks from cytotoxic T cells on the altered virus and the wild-type virus. Phillips has therefore concluded that altered peptide ligand mutations may be an important tool used by HIV to elude the immune system and that they might also help the virus counter vaccines now being developed. "Agouron Starts Phase III Protease Inhibitor Studies" AIDS Treatment News (02/09/96) No.240, P. 4 Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is launching two large studies of its protease inhibitor VIRACEPT (nelfinavir mesylate) in combination with other HIV drugs and one smaller study of nelfinavir alone. One trial, which will include 240 patients, will evaluate two doses of nelfinavir combined with stavudine, compared to stavudine alone. Three quarters of the participants will be patients who have received AZT for at least six months. None of the participants will have used any protease inhibitor previously. In another trial, enrolling 210 patients, the same two doses of nelfinavir will be studied in combination with AZT and 3TC, compared to AZT plus 3TC alone. To participate, patients must not have received any anti-HIV drugs, other than a lifetime total of less than one month's worth of AZT.